memeorandum: Two Texas Residents Operating a Visa Racket Indicted for Visa Fraud, Money Laundering, and RICO Conspiracy (US Department of Justice)

10:40 AM ET, May 25, 2025

Top Items:

Judges Weigh Taking Control of Their Own Security Amid Threats — U.S. marshals, sworn to protect federal judges, ultimately answer to President Trump, who has ramped up criticism of the judiciary

Zac Anderson / USA Today:
How Trump's clash with the courts is brewing into an ‘all-out war’

Discussion: CNN and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Mattathias Schwartz / New York Times:
Judge Orders Trump Officials to Seek Return of Guatemalan Man to U.S.

Discussion: Axios, Mother Jones, JURISTnews, The Guardian, Associated Press, The Post Millennial, The Independent, The Hill, Law & Crime, Washington Times, NewsMax.com, Politico and Advocate

Peter Baker / New York Times:

Trump Profits Like No Other President, as Outrage Is Muted … President Trump at a business round-table meeting in Abu Dhabi this month.Doug Mills/The New York Times — When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog

Nicholas Kristof / New York Times:
Trump Is Immensely Vulnerable

Discussion: Raw Story

Ed White / The Detroit News:

U.S. Justice Department pardon lawyer pledges ‘hard look’ at plot to kidnap Michigan governor … “On the pardon front, we can't leave these guys behind,” Ed Martin Jr. said this week on “The Breanna Morello Show.” — “In my opinion these are victims just like January 6,” Martin said …

Jessica Priest / The Texas Tribune:

Political appointees would have more control over Texas universities' courses and hiring under bill OK'd by House — Senate Bill 37 would give more power to university regents, who are appointed by the governor, to vet and veto new curricula and administrators.

New York Times:

Why Vietnam Ignored Its Own Laws to Fast-Track a Trump Family Golf Complex — As President Trump blurs the lines between politics and business — and threatens steep tariffs on trade partners — governments feel compelled to favor Trump-related projects. — As President Trump blurs …

Washington Post:

Russian attack in Ukraine kills 12 as Zelensky condemns ‘silence of America’ — The massive missile and drone attack, one of the largest aerial bombardments of the war, casts more doubt on the U.S.-brokered peace process. — KYIV — Russia launched another massive missile …

Discussion: New York Times, The Guardian, Al Jazeera and The Hill

James Waterhouse / BBC:
Russia launches largest drone attack yet on Ukraine

Discussion: USA Today, Politico, New York Times and Bloomberg

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

Six Months Later, Democrats Are Still Searching for the Path Forward — The party's standing is startlingly low after a defeat that felt like a cultural rejection. What comes next? — OUT OF POWER — The party's standing is startlingly low after a defeat that felt like a cultural rejection.

Shane Goldmacher / New York Times:

How Donald Trump Has Remade America's Political Landscape — Donald J. Trump's victory in 2024 was not an outlier. — It was the culmination of continuous gains by Republicans in much of the country each time he has run for president, a sea of red that amounts to a flashing warning sign …

Discussion: Althouse

Dan Balz / Washington Post:

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ is a big risk for House Republicans. Many of them hope otherwise. — As the 2026 midterms loom, voters are restless and eager to penalize those in power. Every election starting with 2006, with the exception of 2012, has been a change election.

Discussion: Bloomberg and NewsMax.com

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy / USA Today:

With $37 million and a jet, Trump's presidential library takes off, Eric Trump as pilot — A new nonprofit, Donald J. Trump Presidential Library Foundation, Inc., has been established to raise funds for a future presidential library for Donald Trump. — The foundation …

Discussion: New York Times and The Post Millennial

The Times:

JD Vance's Irish ancestry claim hits a genealogical dead end — DUP-commissioned report fails to find a link between Donald Trump's vice-president — a self-declared Scots-Irish — and Ireland — JD Vance takes pride in declaring himself to be a “Scots-Irish hillbilly at heart” …

Jeanna Smialek / New York Times:

Europe's Been Negotiating by the Book, but Trump's Tearing It Up — The Trump administration sees tariff talks as a chance to pressure a rival into concessions. E.U. officials have acted as though they were dealing with an ally. — The European Union has been following tried-and-true rules …

Discussion: Politico, Washington Post, NewsMax.com, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Breitbart, Fortune and Grabien

Ruth Marcus / New Yorker:

J. D. Vance Warns Courts to Get in Line — The Vice-President says it's time for Chief Justice John Roberts to step in and make judges behave. He's wrong. — Vice-President J. D. Vance offered some unsolicited advice to Chief Justice John Roberts the other day: the federal courts need …

Discussion: Raw Story and Daily Kos

Erica L. Green / New York Times:

Trump Administration Highlights: President Stresses New Era in Speech to West Point Graduates — Where Things Stand — West Point: Speaking at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on Saturday, President Trump told graduating cadets they were part of a new “golden age” in the country.

Andrew Stiles / The Washington Free Beacon:

Decline Absolution: Sympathetic, Well-Meaning Journalists With Poor Integrity — REVIEW: 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again' by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson … Some people find this aggravating, and for good reason.

Discussion: Plain Dealer

Wall Street Journal:

The Week That Derailed Joe Biden's Post-Presidency — A fight against cancer and a struggle to amass an inheritance for his family are setting up a somber final chapter — When Joe Biden left office in January, he sought to follow the template set by his predecessors for a post-presidency …

Discussion: Rolling Stone